15 Sep 2013

Stakeholders in the Okavango and Ngami constituencies have stressed the need for collaboration between the National Registration Office (Omang) and Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) when preparing for the coming 2014 general elections.

Speaking at a meeting of the Party Liaison Committee and party representatives in Gumare recently, stakeholders said the two organisations should strengthen their cooperation so that Batswana could vote without Omang-related hindrances.

One of the participants at the meeting, Mr Kabo Kurusa, said IEC should urge Omang officers to visit their areas regularly to register people, issue cards and renew the expired Omang cards.

“We do not expect the situation whereby some people, especially the youth, failed to participate in the past general elections only because they were not having their Omang cards while some had expired ones,” he said.

Mr Kurusa cautioned Omang officers against the temptation to be slow when serving the public so that they can do that as  overtime saying this would be bad for the economy. He urged the department to monitor overtime payment.

Another participant, Mr Ditunga Mbote, appealed to the IEC to help community-based organisations working with people with disability in their  outreach programmes.

He said majority of the people with disability living in the Okavango Sub-district were not informed about voting because the organization did not have funds.

Another participant, Ms Cynthia Chalegwa spoke against the use of X in ballot papers, , saying it was confusing because some people understand the symbol to mean rejection.

Mr Johnson Kazombungo suggested that the X method should be replaced with the punch-out to show that they are voting for the candidate.

Responding to some of the complaints, IEC principal public relations officer, Mr Osupile Maroba, said the Department of National Registration assured the IEC that it would expedite its service delivery.

Mr Maroba asked participants at the meeting to help their relatives and friends by checking expiry dates of Omang cards.

He spoke of an education campaign targeting people with disability.

He said the X sign was a standardised official mark and was used in many forums, including the processes in the payment of pensioners. Ends